Blessed Hearts Series

Sandy's Romance Part Two Discouraged   by Andrea Lena DiMaggio for my dear sweet sister Alison   Let's talk this over It's not like we're dead Was it something I did? Was it something You said? Don't leave me hanging In a city so dead Held up so high On such a breakable thread

“Marcel Jean Pevour”

Previously

“Hello, Dana?” He said as he walked into the front hall way. The hall lights were off and the house seemed darker than usual. He called out again.

"It's okay, Dana, I'm here. I'm here...oh god please be okay...Dana...Dana?"

At the Hospital

Sandy had been sitting in the waiting area for two hours and had put his head back against the wall and was drifting off when a voice interrupted.

“Excuse me, are you Mr. Pevour?” He looked up to see a woman wearing scrubs and a very tired but urgent expression.

“Ah, yes…er…what?” Sandy sad as the fog quickly dissipated. “I’m Sandy Pevour.”

“No, I’m sorry, you must be a relative? I’m looking for Marcel? “she said quietly with a look of disappointment quickly crossing her face.

“Marcel…Johnny’s my brother. How is Dana…my sister-in-law?” Sandy emphasized the words, as if it would change what he knew what the …doctor? What the doctor would say next.”

“I’m sorry….I’m Dr. Javid.” She stuck out her hand and her expression grew warmer. She took a moment to look away before continuing.

“Please tell me that someone, anyone who is next-of-kin is here?!” She shook her head once again and put her hand on Sandy’s arm as Sandy stood up.

“Nobody’s been able to reach my brother since Dana was brought in. Her parents are flying up from Galveston, but with their connecting flight, they won’t be her for another two hours. “ Sandy already knew where the conversation was going and he grew fearful as Dr. Javid’s face grew angry.

“This is not happening. This can’t be happening,” she said absent-mindedly, forgetting that Sandy was standing in front of her.

“What’s going on, Doctor? What’s wrong…where Dana is now?” He was surprised to see that Dr. Javid had started toward the access door to the ER suite. She looked frustrated and even sad. He caught up with her and noticed that she had tears in her eyes. She turned and faced him, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. She looked at her arm and realized she was wearing her OR scrubs and she spoke a soft, “oh shit,” before speaking to him.

“I don’t have any time…we don’t have any time.” She frowned, scrunching her lower lip while looking past Sandy to the service elevator. She shook her head and grabbed his arm. Something very comforting came across Sandy as he felt peace for the first time all day.

“Come with me…” She didn’t wait for a reply. She grabbed his hand and pulled him further down the hall until they were isolated from the noise and people of the waiting area.

“Your sister-in-law lost a lot of blood…a lot of blood. She’s still bleeding, and we have to operate now.” She looked away for a second and grimaced, as if to steel herself for what she was about to ask. She turned and faced Sandy again, skipping the “I’m really not supposed to say this to you, but” part of the speech.

“Mr. Pevour…I am assuming that any second your brother is going to walk into this hospital. Here’s what we’re faced with. She’s bleeding. I can keep pumping blood into her but she needs surgery…We can’t stop the bleeding unless we operate and in this state, I can’t operate without your brother’s or her parent’s signature, do you follow me?” She eyed the clipboard in her hand. It held a consent form.

“I don’t understand, what’s wrong…what is going…” She cut him off.

“I can’t do the procedure that is required unless MR. PEVOUR signs this form…she needs a hysterectomy and I can’t…unless your brother signs this form, do I make myself clear?” He nodded hastily.

“I’m going to go over there and speak with the nurse,” she said as she pointed to the man standing at the desk. She was risking her job, but it had to play out this way or Dana would never see another birthday.

“Your brother is going to walk through those doors over there in just a few seconds and you are going to get him to sign this form, right?” She half-frowned; her lower lip pushed out into almost a pout. He looked at her with his eye squinting in an almost-peer.

“Right?” she repeated. She didn’t wait for his reply but walked away quickly, glancing back once to motion “go ahead” with her eyes.

He looked at her; she had turned her back on him, almost as if to ignore what he was about to do while knowing full well what was about to happen. He took the pen from the holder, scrunched his face and shook his head and signed the form.

“Marcel Jean Pevour”

Upstairs in Dana's Room

The woman in the bed seemed almost small. She had some tubes in her arms and she looked very pale, but with some color returning to her face.

“Carrie…Carrie?” She said weakly, her voice still raspy from the anaesthesia.

“She’s okay…she’s with my mom, hon.” Sandy leaned over and kissed her forehead.

“Juh…Johnny?” She looked at Sandy and her eyes had filled with tears. He wasn’t going to say anything; she couldn’t handle that.

“He…he got stuck in Kansas City…something about the plane…he’s on his way.” Marcel was likely sitting in bed in a hotel room in Chicago with his mistress. Even Collette had said she was disappointed, but had quickly “understood” about Johnny’s “needs.”

“Dana? Oh god baby …Dana?” Annie Muldoon walked into the room and went to her daughter’ side.

“Dana, oh honey, con tá´i. (My child)” she said as she began to stroke her daughter’s hair.

“Uá¢y khyếm mẹ…mommy…I’m sorry….i’m sorry.” She began to weep.

“No, baby…no...it’s alright…no.”

“Mom….I…I lost the baby…I lost the baby…I’mmmmossooorry” Annie kissed her daughter’s face over and over.

“I…they had to…they toooooook.” Sandy felt helpless. He stepped close and patted Annie on her back while she just kept kissing her daughter.”

“Mommy...I can’t …never…no …oh god!” She began almost a low wail, like a lament. Her mother collapsed on her chest, weeping almost in a tragically beatiful song.

“Mommy…we have to name him…we have to name him.” Dana kept saying it over and over as Annie lifted herself off her daughter’s chest. She kissed her on the forehead once and stood up. Tears stills streamed down her cheeks, but she was controlled and calm.

“His name is Quá½ giá¡!” (Precious) She said with a half-smile, struggling with her tears.

“Mommy…he…I’m soooo sorrrry.” Dana said once before turning her head to the side, covering her face with her hand. She felt ashamed, and nothing her mother said would change that; at least for the moment.

A while later

“She should be out for a while…” Peter Muldoon stood across from Sandy in the hallway outside Dana’s room.

“You saved my baby. I can never repay you…I….” His voice trailed off. Peter Muldoon, Vietnam vet; decorated…Silver Star…retired police officer…medal of valor….cried like a baby. Sandy walked over and cradled the big man in his arms and patted his back awkwardly. Nothing destroys the strength of a man more than the peril of illness or injury to his child. Annie joined the embrace moments later and squeezed Sandy’s hand.

“Cảm Æ¡n bạn (thank you),“ she mouthed. “You are a blessing, Sandy, a blessing.” Too many tears that day…way too many tears shed without an end in sight. Sandy shook his head and turned to bump into a vaguely family young man…at least that’s what he thought until ‘she’ opened her mouth.

“Hey Bro, thanks for saving my baby sister,” Dale Muldoon said as she grabbed him close for a hug. Baby sister by about seventeen minutes, Dana was Dale’s twin. Fraternal, they resembled each other like Donny and Marie, save for the fact that it was more like Butch Donna and Femme Marie, if you’ll excuse the expression.

“If you had’t been there, fuck.” She shook her head and looked into the room to catch sight of her sister.

“I’m gonna go spend some time with her, Mom, Dad. I’ll meet you at the hotel later. It’s just a few blocks.

“Mind if I join you?” Sandy asked. Dale nodded heartily while hugging her Dad.

“Sure…maybe we can get a cup of coffee somewhere while she sleeps.” She said as she kissed her Mom.

“ Tá´i yáªu bạn. (I love you)” Peter and Annie walked down the hall.

“Where’s your fucking brother?” Dale asked, her face in a half-smile.

“Where do you think?” Sandy turned away.

“Hey, it’s not your fault he can’t keep his pants on. What the fuck, some times I think my sister married the wrong brother.” She realized what she said and laughed.

“Hey, even if you are gay, you’d still be a better husband to my sister. What a fucking bastard.” She shook her head once again, but the bravado had been replaced with a sad, almost vulnerable expression.

“She’s the best thing to ever happen to the bastard and he just can’t see it.” Her eyes started to tear up.

“I’m sorry. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry...at least until I spent some time with her. Oh fuck.”

“It doesn’t help that my mother is like some demented cheerleader on the sideline saying, “Nice Job Johnny…Make sure you kick her while she’s down.” He shook his. Dale looked at him and said,

“Fuck the coffee…I saw a bar across the street; we need a drink!”

Across the street at the bar

“Okay…I was almost 15. I’m in the locker room at school and I’m taking my first public shower. I know it’s not the same for boys with a big communal thing, but it’s not like the girls care who sees what either, right?” Sandy nodded.

“I’ve got a towel wrapped around me like a sarong and I’m holding on for dear life. Like I’m gonna turn to stone if someone sees me, you know? And who the fuck comes out of the shower but Olympia Aspasias, our fucking transfer student from fucking Athens. She’s wearing nothing but her birthday suit and she’s got a rack that’s bigger than a stripper.” Sandy laughed and motioned for the waitress to bring two more drinks. He nursed his rum and coke and Dale continued.

“So anyway, she gets right up in my fucking face and says,

“You don’t need this. And she pulls off my fucking towel. Not like a tease, but she’s looking at me like an eagle looks at a prairie dog, you know?” She smiled and took a swig out of her O’Doul's.

“And then…she gets right up to my ear and whispers, like the sweetest voice I’d ever heard, ‘I like you.’ She grabs my hand and pulls me into the shower and starts kissing me.” Her eyes began to mist.

“'I like you.' She never said another word that day, not another word, but I’m sitting on the bench in front of my locker and she comes up and kisses me…oh so soft and puts her hand on my cheek…” Dale shook her head and bit her lip.

“Last time I ever saw her. Went back to Athens the next day; her brother was in a car accident and the family just brought her home. Fuck….” She wiped her face with her sleeve.

“So when was your first time?” Dale leaned back in the booth and put her head against the wall. Sandy smiled and took a sip from his drink before saying,

“Well…I was twelve, and it was Billy Demuth. He came over to the house to trade comics and we were in my room. “ He paused and giggled.

“’Sandy…what’s all that noise up there?’ My mom is downstairs wondering what the fuck is going on and I just yelled, ‘Billy is showing me some wrestling moves.'” He began to laugh and snorted his rum and coke.

"Thing is, it wasn’t all that much fun.” He shook his head and turned away.

“It’s gotten worse, hasn’t it?” Dale shook her head and leaned closer to make it less public for him.

“After Martin told me he didn’t like girls? I mean here we’re a couple for two years…you don’t know how hard it was to keep that from my mom. And then out of the blue he says, 'No, Sandy...this isn’t working out…I wanted a relationship with a boy and fuck, that’s what I’m going to get.'"

"He makes me take everything off...everything…and then he screws me…literally wasn’t nice at all but the figurative fuck of it hurt worse. I mean we go together for two years and he's just figuring out now that I’m a girl? I mean, where's my happy ending?”

He put his head down and began to cry; not an unfamiliar scene in a bar, especially one directly across from a hospital.

“We’re a pair, we are. Hey…I have to apologize.” Sandy looked at her and she started to laugh.

“We never did switch… At their wedding....what happened? Oh yeah, your brother’s car wouldn’t start so I went out and got it going. That would have been the end to a perfectly fucked up day.”

“Yeah…there you are in your gown leaning over the radiator with a screwdriver in your hand and I’m hanging back thinking ‘shit, life isn’t fucking fair.’” He shook his head and put his hand to his face.

“Well, I know you would have looked great in the gown, and I always wanted to know what it would be like to stand up at the front of a church in a tux…Maybe we were switched at birth.”

“Yeah…maybe. Oh fuck…I’m sorry.” Sandy turned away and laid his head on the back of the booth seat.

“That’s okay. Hey…I know… you can be Rudi and I’ll be Herbie, okay? We’re a couple of misfits….” She smiled and he began to lighten up, grinning ever so small.

“We’re a couple of misfits,” he sang even while the tears streamed down his cheeks. She joined and sang the tenor to his alto,

“What’s the matter with misfits, that’s where we fit in”

Next: Discovery

Illustration adapted from
"Maud Cook" 1895, a painting by
Thomas Eakins 1844 - 1916

My Happy Ending
words and music by
Avril Lavigne and Butch Walker,
as performed by Avril Lavgne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwf2qt6BJAQ

We're a Couple of Misfits
words ahd music by
Burl Ives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwlOUAAyPQE